Communicate & Collaborate

Slack replaces your company's internal email with organized group chats called channels. You create a channel for each project, team, or topic — so conversations stay focused and easy to find. Your team can also share files, hop on quick audio calls (called Huddles), and connect with outside partners through Slack Connect. For a small business, Slack keeps everyone on the same page without the clutter of long email threads. Built-in tools like Canvas (shared documents), Lists (simple task tracking), and Workflow Builder (no-code automation) mean you can manage lightweight projects without paying for extra apps. And with 2,600+ integrations, Slack connects to nearly every tool your business already uses. Slack now includes AI features on every plan — even the free one. The AI can summarize channels you missed, draft messages, answer questions about your company's conversations, and recap your day. It's like having an assistant that reads every message so you don't have to.

Multistream live video to 30+ platforms simultaneously — YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitch, TikTok. Browser-based studio, unified chat, and AI clip creation. Free: 2 channels. Standard: $16/month. Professional: $39/month. Business: $199/month.

Front is best for small businesses with a support or operations team that handles a high volume of customer messages across email, chat, or SMS. It gives your whole team one shared inbox so no message falls through the cracks and everyone can see what's been handled. You can set up automatic routing rules, tag conversations, and leave internal notes without switching to another app. If your team is juggling customer requests across multiple channels and people, Front helps you stay organized and respond faster.

BookStack is a free, open-source, self-hosted platform for organizing your team's documentation into books, chapters, and pages. It includes a WYSIWYG editor, full-text search, role-based permissions, and built-in diagram drawing via diagrams.net.

Video meetings in your browser — no downloads or installs for guests. Permanent room links. Embed video into your own product via API. Screen sharing, recording, and breakout groups. Free: 1 room, 100 participants. Pro: $8.99/user/month (3 rooms, recording).

Docmost is an open-source wiki for teams that need to keep documentation on their own servers. You can replace Confluence or Notion with it and meet ITAR, FedRAMP, or GDPR rules without sending data to a third party.

Box is best for small businesses that need a secure place to store, share, and manage files with their team and outside clients. You can store all your documents in one place, control who sees what, and sign contracts without leaving the platform. Box also uses AI to help you pull insights from documents and automate repetitive tasks. It works well for teams that handle sensitive files and need to meet compliance rules like HIPAA or SOC 2.

Audience interaction for meetings, presentations, and events. Live polls, Q&A with upvoting, quizzes, and surveys. Works inside PowerPoint, Google Slides, Teams, and Webex. Free: up to 100 participants, 3 polls per event. Paid from ~$15/user/month.

Started as gaming chat, now the go-to for online communities. Always-on voice channels, role management, and massive bot ecosystem. Free for most use cases.

Butter is a collaborative meeting platform designed to make workshops, training sessions, and team meetings more engaging. It gives you built-in polls, breakout rooms, agendas, timers, and recap summaries so your meetings lead to clear outcomes. Note: Butter was acquired by Miro in 2024 and now redirects to Miro Engage. The free plan supports up to 50 team members. Business plans start at $30/month per pro member. Highly rated at 4.4/5 on G2 with users praising its fun, engaging meeting experience.